How would you cope, suddenly not being able to talk, in a world that only knows how to communicate through speech? This story explores one woman's journey through this uncharted territory and her eventual victory through tenacity and faith.

Kim Ballantine’s profound and poignant description of her remarkable journey with voice loss and cancer is a humbling tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the love of family and the faithfulness of God. Hot Tea and Apricots speaks directly to the courage center in each of us, calling us to stand in faith and trusting that God who sees what we cannot, is already lighting the path ahead even in the darkest of times. This book is for anyone of any gender, ethnicity or creed who is seeking a pathway to their own courage, through unthinkable pain, towards victory.

As heartbreaking, raw and painfully honest – and at times darkly humorous – as the memoir is, Hot Tea and Apricots is a triumphant story of hope and holding onto life.

The English naturalist William Burchell set off from Cape Town in June 1811 to explore the flora and fauna of the vast southern African interior. Over a four-year period, and travelling in a custom-built ox wagon, he amassed an astonishing 63 000 specimens of plants, bulbs, insects, reptiles and mammals – many not previously documented for science – as well as over 500 paintings and illustrations.

While the outbound trek is well described in Burchell’s famous Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa, little has been published about the challenges and discoveries made on his return journey to Cape Town, from 1812–1815. This pioneering book traces the homeward leg of Burchell’s epic odyssey – through the arid northern Cape, the Great Karoo, the warravaged eastern Cape, and along the Eden-like southern Cape coast.

Drawing on primary and secondary sources, including Burchell’s letters, his handwritten records archived at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the detailed map he created to record his trek, the authors have crafted a thought-provoking and beautifully illustrated account that encompasses both the genius of the man and the natural history of the region that so intrigued him.

When a thoughtless tweet by Zelda la Grange unleashed a storm, she was asked: ‘Have you learnt nothing from Nelson Mandela?’ This book is her answer.

For years, she was the closest witness of Mandela’s interactions with people both famous and ordinary, and here she draws out his lessons on humility, respect, honesty, how to truly listen and what to do if you realise you have made a grave mistake, a lesson she herself had to learn the hard way.

After the runaway success of his Afrikaans memoir, Hoerkind, the contrarian journalist and writer Herman Lategan translated and updated his eventful life story to include material that did not appear in the original book.

Herman was conceived illegitimately one warm February night in 1964 in a boarding house in Cape Town. From an early age, he felt disposable, passed from one pair of unstable adult hands to the next, even ending up in an orphanage for a while.

At thirteen he was caught in the web of a cunning paedophile, a well-known Afrikaans newspaperman. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, when his abuser had finished with him, Herman was unceremoniously dumped at the door of his alcoholic father. Conscription into the army and a dishonourable discharge followed.

During his teenage years, Herman befriended poets like Sheila Cussons, Tatamkhulu Afrika and Casper Schmidt, and later, in New York, he followed Andy Warhol in the street and partied with a ‘smorgasbord of social butterflies’.

Back in South Africa, Herman established himself as a journalist, but struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, and was homeless for a while. For many an employer, he became the nightmare they feared most.

Son of a Whore is a gripping account of loss, hardship and overcoming both; it will make you laugh and, at times, break your heart. You will despair at the cruelty of a world in which the marginalised are forsaken, but stand in awe at the extent of the goodness surrounding us, because, ultimately, people depend on each other.

“Caster’s story isn’t just a tale of perseverance and poise, it’s a story that makes us all interrogate our humanity and the world we build with our actions every day. An essential read.” - Trevor Noah

Caster Semenya is one of the greatest athletes ever to run the 800- metre. She went undefeated for almost four years, winning two Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, and set and broke numerous records.

However, Caster’s life and career were devastated by accusations that she was not a woman and should not compete against other women as she was born with naturally elevated levels of testosterone. Required by the International Association of Athletics Federations to take hormone-altering drugs as a condition of competing in certain events, Caster for years suffered side effects that she describes as devastating to her health. Her predicament surfaced a still-raging firestorm over our understanding of gender and, of how gender plays out in sports, as well as our expectations of female athletes.

The Race to be Myself tells the coming-of-age story of an iconic athlete – of Caster’s dramatic journey from a gifted and self-trained novice to the pinnacle of her sport – and takes readers behind the scenes of her inspiring battle to run in the ‘body that God gave me’.

In this multi-billion rand corruption memoir, former Bosasa C.O.O and whistleblower, Angelo Agrizzi rips open the can of worms, exposing two decades of untold greed, politicking, corruption, bribery and deep state capture.

Inside the Belly of The Beast is a detailed confession, exposing the intimate fraudulent workings of a company, under the cult-like leadership of Gavin Watson. Agrizzi is one of few people with a first-hand account of what really happened behind the closed doors of Bosasa.

News of the sensational priosn escape of the murderer and 'Facebook rapist' Thabo Bester, assisted by his lover, celebrity doctor Nandipha Magudumana, shocked South Africa.

In this book, Marecia Damons and Daniel Steyn, the Ground Up journalists who first exposed the scam, tell the full story, from Thabo and Nandipha's life stories and their unlikely love affair, all the way to his faked death and their eventual arrest, though in disguise, in Tanzania.

My reis, eers as pleegma en later as aanneemma, was nie een waarop iemand my kon voorberei nie. Rooiletterkind is my poging om hierdie reis so eerlik as moontlik te ondersoek, vanaf die vertrekpunt een oggend voor ’n kerkdiens tot by ’n handgemaakte Moedersdagkaartjie meer as vyf jaar later.

Wat maak jy met ’n kind wat aanhou om teen jou liefde te baklei? Hoe help jy haar deur die slaggate van die lewe as jyself nooit daardeur is nie?

Dit is maar net twee van die vele vrae wat ek myself onophoudelik moes vra terwyl ek verbete vasklou aan ’n rooiletterdatum, ’n halsstarrige kind en ’n hart wat gereeld uit my borskas geruk word.

Saam met ons eie verhaal was daar egter ook ander stories wat vertel moes word — stories van ons kind se herkoms, van gebrokenheid en straatmense en kriminele en ’n drughuis sonder reëls of taboes.

Born in the old Transvaal town of Schweizer Reneke, Essop Pahad started on a path of political activism from his parents' flat in Becker Street, Ferreirastown, where an all-welcome policy prevailed and visionaries of the Congress alliance, such as Yusuf Dadoo, Walter Sisulu, O.R.Tambo, Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada were regular visitors. His parents instilled in the family strong anti-racist principles and a genuine concern for all human beings regardless of race, class or religion.

A graduate of the 'Congress School' in Johannesburg, Essop's growing commitment to social justice was nurtured by teachers who were among the struggle's most eminent leaders. An executive member of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress, Essop was banned in 1964 and went into exile in the UK where he was recruited into the South African Communist Party (SACP). In 1973 he studied at the Lenin Party School in Moscow and then worked in Prague representing the SACP on the editorial board of the World Marxist Review for a decade.

During this time he was sent by the ANC for military training with Umkhonto we Sizwe in Angola, which he was unable to complete as he contracted malaria. Essop returned to South Africa in 1990, where he played a central role in shaping our new democracy.

A Life Committed is the memoir of a revolutionary whose diverse experiences with other progressive people and movements, local and international, enabled him to deepen his understanding of how to better face the challenges confronting South Africa, Africa and the world. The book is spiced with anecdotes from his impressive memory archive and lightened by his mischievous sense of humour. Profiles of his mentors and friends from liberation movements and workers' parties provide insight into the extent of the fierce integrity,compassion and humanity of the author.

Emma van der Walt is a pastor, mother and wife, and woman of God. She is also the fearless founder of the nonprofit organisation, Brave to Love. They tackle the dark world of sex trade and human trafficking head on to rescue young women from the clutches of evil. These girls are then lovingly cared for and guided as they embark on their new beginnings.

Emma and her team work side by side with local and international law enforcement agencies. Together they combat human trafficking and slavery to uncover the corruption and immense suffering that goes on behind closed doors.

This is her story and the shocking tales of the lucky ones who survive to escape the hell of human trafficking.

The Steinhoff crash wiped more than R200bn off the JSE, erased half the wealth of tycoon Christo Wiese and knocked the pension funds of millions of people.

When it was exposed as a house of cards, tales of fraudulent accounting, lavish spending and ructions in the ‘Stellenbosch mafia’ made the headlines. As regulators tally up the cost, Financial Mail editor Rob Rose reveals the real inside story behind Steinhoff. Based on interviews with key players in South Africa, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands – and documents not yet public – Steinheist reveals:

• How Bruno Steinhoff formed the company in the Communist bloc and apartheid South Africa;
• How the ‘Markus myth’ grew thanks to a ‘bit of luck’ in a 1998 takeover;
• How Jooste insiders shifted nasty liabilities off Steinhoff’s balance sheet to present a false picture of the profits;
• How Wiese was lucky to lose only R59bn and; and
• What happened behind closed boardroom doors in the frantic week before Jooste resigned.

Nomavenda Mathiane stumbled upon her grandmother’s story well over a century after the gruelling events of the Battle of Isandlwana that formed her life. Astounded to hear how her grandmother had survived the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War between the British and Zulu nations as a young girl, Mathiane spent hours with her elder sisters reconstructing the extraordinary life of their grandmother. The result is a sweeping epic of both personal and political battles.

Eyes In The Night is a young Zulu woman’s story of drama, regret, guilt and, ultimately, triumph – set against the backdrop of a Zululand changed beyond recognition.

A true story almost lost, but for a chance remark at a family gathering.

In die jare 1891 tot 1893 het ongeveer 770 persone Transvaal verlaat en na Angola en Duits-Suidwes-Afrika getrek om hulle heil daar te soek. Dit staan bekend as die “sesde” Dorslandtrek.

Sowat 45 De Jagers het in verskillende groepe aan hierdie epiese trek deelgeneem. Ná die sesde Dorslandtrek het hulle tussen Angola, Suidwes-Afrika, Suid-Afrika en selfs Kenia rondgeswerf en verdere avonture oor die hele Suider-Afrika beleef. Sommige De Jagers het in 1928 van Angola na Suidwes-Afrika getrek en hulle daar gevestig, terwyl ander eers in 1958 uit Angola gerepatrieer is.

Uit die beperkte beskikbare bronne is die verskillende trekroetes van die sesde Dorslandtrek gerekonstrueer en vir die eerste keer word ’n kaart van die verskillende trekroetes gepubliseer. ’n Geslagregister van bykans 1800 afstammelinge en aangetroude familielede van die De Jagers van die sesde Dorslandtrek en byna 500 foto’s vorm ’n omvattende beeld van hierdie familiegeskiedenis.

ust after dusk on Good Friday, 6 April 2012, the peace and quiet permeating the small Northern Cape town of Griekwastad was disrupted when a young teenage boy sped into town in his father’s Isuzu bakkie and screeched to a halt in front of the town’s nearly deserted police station. It was shortly before 19h00 when Don Steenkamp jumped out of the vehicle and ran into the station’s charge office, covered in blood, to announce that his parents and sister had been brutally shot and killed on the family farm, Naauwhoek.

Although the killings were initially thought to be just another farm attack, months later Don was arrested for the murders, setting in motion a chain of events that would grip South Africa and divide the people of Griekwastad.

Based on interviews with all the role-players, including the investigating offi cers on the case, the forensic and ballistic experts, and family and friends of the deceased, and concluding with the verdict and the sentencing, this is the riveting account of what really happened on Naauwhoek farm on that fateful day, as told by the reporter who followed the case from day one…

In November 1993, ANC activist and development worker Clare Stewart’s body was found in a shallow ditch in rural KwaZulu-Natal as the province sat on the brink of civil war. Amid the ensuing chaos and euphoria of South Africa’s ‘new dawn’, the details of Clare's killing would stay hidden beneath the surface.

This gripping, moving account of Clare’s life and the mystery surrounding her death touches on the fragility of memory, family loss, apartheid’s evils, and the fault lines in our democracy.

A true crime classic about Daisy de Melker in ragtime Joburg – a city of murder, mayhem and gold.

Ted Botha takes the reader into the underbelly of Johannesburg in the 1920s and 1930s as he traces the fascinating story of the mysterious Daisy de Melker, who was hanged for poisoning her son. Many also believed she poisoned two husbands for their life insurance money.

In the shadow of ever-growing mine dumps, she went about her business quietly and unnoticed – the most unlikely of killers. Even though people close to her kept dying, no one suspected a thing for twenty years. When someone finally spoke up, it led to one of South Africa’s most sensational trials.

De Melker’s story unfolds in tandem with those of colourful Johannesburg characters of the same period such as the Foster Gang, Herman Charles Bosman, the dashing conman Baron von Veltheim and a Bonny-and-Clyde-style couple, Dicky Mallalieu and Gwen Tolputt. Some cross paths with each other and also those of famous writers of era such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sarah Gertrude Millin.

Vir agt jaar het die sogenaamde Stasiemoordenaar die Kaapse Vlakte in sy greep gehou – van 1986 tot 1994 verdwyn 22 jong seuns spoorloos en die gemeenskap leef in vrees. Sommige van die seuns se liggame word later gevind, begrawe in vlak grafte in bosse en
sandduine, met hulle hande agter hul rûe gebind. Meeste van die misdade is egter nooit opgelos nie en talle ouers soek steeds na die waarheid.

Norman Simons, ’n laerskoolonderwyser, is in hegtenis geneem, maar is in 1995 slegs skuldig bevind aan een van die moorde. Ná 28 jaar van gevangenisstraf is Simons op parool vrygelaat in 2023, met talle onbeantwoorde vrae. Waarom het ooggetuies destyds ’n ander
man beskryf? Aan wie behoort die DNA wat op tonele gevind is?

Die gesoute joernalis en skrywer, Julian Jansen, volg die spoor van die Stasiemoordenaar en ondersoek hierdie donker raaisel wat steeds by die families en gemeenskap spook.

Rosie Motene's story is about a young girl born to the Bafokeng nation during the apartheid era in South Africa.

At the time, Rosie’s mother worked for a white Jewish family in Johannesburg who offered to raise the child as one of their own. This generous gesture by the family created many opportunities for Rosie but also a trail of sacrifices for her parents. As she grew, Rosie struggled to find her true identity.

She had access to the best of everything but as a black girl she floundered without her own culture or language. This book describes Rosie’s journey through her fog of alienation to the belated dawning of herself discovery as an African.

Originally published as Relish, a fully revised and updated edition of the eye-opening story of one woman's incredible appetite for life: Dame Prue Leith, judge of hit show GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, tells all from childhood in South Africa to becoming a DBE.

Prue Leith describes herself as greedy in all senses of the word. Cook, caterer, restaurateur, food writer, journalist, novelist, businesswoman, teacher, television presenter, charity worker, lover, wife and mother, she has certainly lived life to the full.

Prue came to London in the early 1960s and, not long afterwards, opened Leith's Restaurant. By the mid-seventies she was a food columnist on the Daily Mail, had published several cookbooks and opened Leith's School of Food and Wine. But it wasn't all work. Prue writes with honesty of her love life, her longing for children, the birth of her son, the adoption of her daughter and much else besides.

In this fully revised and updated edition she tells of how she met, fell in love with and married John Playfair as well as her exciting role as a judge on Great British Bake Off, now a hit show in the United States as well as the UK.

Prue's down-to-earth attitude to life and her remarkable energy are an inspiration to women readers everywhere.

Zibusiso Mkhwanazi’s entrepreneurial journey has taken him from being a digital advertising prodigy to founding South Africa’s largest black-owned advertising agency group. His experiences have led him to believe that anyone has the potential to become a leader.

In this book, Business By Grace – How I Built a World-Changing Advertising Business with R2 000, Zibusiso shares the lessons he’s learned along the way, highlighting that the road to success is never easy. From his early struggles and business breakdowns to his current status as a revered entrepreneur, Zibusiso’s account demonstrates how resilience, tenacity, and his faith have helped him overcome challenges. His story is both inspiring and informative, offering valuable insights for entrepreneurs and business leaders alike.

At its core, the book is a tribute to the South African spirit. It tells the story of a young boy who sold sweets at school and grew up to become one of the country’s most successful business icons.

Business By Grace is a compelling and engaging book, a must-read for anyone seeking inspiration and guidance on their own entrepreneurial path.

Springbok rugby public relations manager Annelee Murray was with the team for 244 matches, during which time she worked with seven national coaches and 21 Springbok captains.

This is a celebration of her 20 year journey with the Springboks, she has unique stories to tell and most of the photographs in the book are her own images from her collection, many of which will be published for the first time.

Thebe Ikalafeng is a branding icon who set the agenda for the industry at the dawn of our democracy and continues to pioneer it to this day. As the founder of Brand Africa, the African continent is now a major focus in his life's mission. He is The Traveller, having touched soil on every African country. From Kimberley to the world, his mission is impact.

Hykie vertel in rou eerlikheid van sy stryd met ADHD. Van 'n weerlose seuntjie wat nie kon stilsit nie tot 'n jong man wat in Weskoppies opgeneem word en alles verloor. Hykie ondersoek die hele fenomeen van ADHD – hoeveel diagnoses daar gemaak word, hoe die medikasie ontstaan het, die samestelling en die newe-effekte daarvan. Hykie wys dat medikasie nie die enigste antwoord is nie. Hykie gee ook waardevolle raad aan Christene oor hoe om mense wat aan geestessiektes lei te ondersteun.

Award winning novelist Karin Cronje has established herself as a fearless writer unafraid to expose issues usually considered off limits. There Goes English Teacher, which spans three years of adventures and misadventures as an English teacher in a small Korean village and later at a university, continues her pursuit of truth. This unusually honest memoir reflects amongst others, the nature of identity and the loss of it; sexuality; belief; ageing; displacement; belonging; and nationhood. Karin Cronje has a real talent for tongue-in-cheek observations of herself and her world. Her accounts of her own confusion and incomprehension as she navigates the collision of two cultures worlds apart are told with a mix of irony, pathos and humor. Yet underneath the lighthearted narration this intimate account shows how a disruption of the familiar can lead to fundamental change.

What further sets this memoir apart is that it is as close to first-hand as a reader may possibly ever get. Karin Cronje seldom allows us out of her head; she doesn’t give us anything like a travel writer’s perspective, a dispassionate description of landscape or exterior view. We inhabit this foreign place exactly as she did. Whilst in Korea, she completed a novel, which won the Jan Rabie/Rapport prize. She takes us with her through the various stages of writing it and we experience her internal processes that lead to an end she was unable to predict. Her return to South Africa poses unforeseen troubles. We are right there with her as she makes one disastrous and scandalous decision after another.

There Goes English Teacher is ultimately a celebration of the gifts the world has to offer while it entertains with a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes acerbic and ironic, but always humane voice. There are few South African memoirs that dig as deeply into what it means to be fully human. It is a compelling, moving story, unusually told and one that will not only linger long after finishing the book but will demand a second slower read to savour the writing.

Few athletes hold a record comparable to that of Oscar Chalupsky. He made history at the age of fifteen as the first person to win both the Junior and Senior Ironman titles on the same day at the South African National Lifesaving Championships, he was the country’s spokesman at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and he is a multiple-times global surfski champion, having won the internationally famous Molokai to Oahu World Surfski Marathon championships in Hawaii a record twelve times – his most recent victory being at the age of forty-nine.

Then, in 2019, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable bone marrow cancer and told he had six months to live. But as with everything else Oscar does, he is determined to emerge victorious. He continues to paddle kayaks, play golf, and with a combination of medical treatment, exercise, iron determination and unconquerable optimism, he has defied every doctor’s prediction to date. How does he do it?

In this book, Oscar relives some of his most exhilarating and nail-biting races, and shares the lessons he has learnt from winning on the international surf lifesaving, kayak and surfski circuits as well as running several successful businesses. The final chapters recount his courageous battle against cancer, the vital support of his family and friends, and his refusal to let the deadly disease dictate his life.

No Retreat, No Surrender is an uplifting account of grit, perseverance, talent and attitude, vividly capturing the determined mindset of an inspirational sporting legend.